MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



561 



white, to which the tongue is 

 fastened, inclosed in the barders, 

 or long whalebones; it is very 

 large, sometimes about eighteen 

 feet, and sometimes more, of a 

 wiiite colour, with black spots, of 

 a soft, fat, and spungy matter. 

 The whale has a bunch on the 

 top of his head, in which are two 

 spouts or pipes, parallel one to 

 the other, and somewhat bent, 

 like the holes upon a tiJdle. 

 Through these he receives the 

 air, and spouts out the water, 

 which he takes in at his mouth, 

 and is forced upwards through 

 these holes in very large quan- 

 tities, and with such violence and 

 noise, that it is heard at a great 

 distance, by which, in hazy wea- 

 ther, he is known to be near, 

 especially when he finds himself 

 wounded, for then he rages most 

 furiously, and the noise of his 

 spouting is so loud, that some 

 have resembled it to the roaring of 

 the sea in a storm, or the firing 

 of great guns. His eyes are 

 placed between the bunch and 

 the side fins ; they are not larger 

 than those of an ox, and are 

 armed with eyebrows. 



These sea animals, or rather 

 monsters, are of different sizes 

 and bulks ; some yield one hun- 

 dred and some two or three hun- 

 dred tuns of fat or blubber. The 

 fat lies between the skin and the 

 flesh, six or eight inches thick, 

 especially upon the back and 

 under the belly. The thickest 

 and strongest sinews are in the 

 tail, which serves him for a 

 rudder, as his fins do for oars, 

 wherewith he swims with an 

 astonishing swiftness, propor- 

 tioned to his bulk, leaving a 

 track in the sea, like a great 



Vol. LX. 



ship ; and this is called his wake, 

 by which he is often followed. 



These sea monsters, are as shy 

 and timorous as they are huge 

 and bulky, for as soon as they 

 hear a'boat rowing, and perceive 

 any body's approach, they imme- 

 diately shoot under water and 

 plunge into the deep ; but when 

 they find themselves in danger, 

 then they show their great and 

 surprising strength ; for then 

 they break to pieces whatever 

 comes in their way, and if they 

 should hit a boat, they would 

 beat it in a thousand pieces^ 

 According to the relation of the 

 whale -catchers, the whale, being 

 struck, will run away with the 

 line some hundreds of fathoms 

 long, faster than a ship under full 

 sail. Now one would think, that 

 such a vast body should need 

 many smaller fishes and sea 

 animals to feed upon ; but on the 

 contrary, his food is nothing but 

 a sort of blubber, called pidmo 

 marinus, or whale food, which is 

 of shape and bigness, as repre- 

 sented in the cuts; it is of a 

 dark • brown colour, with two 

 brims of flaps, with which it 

 moves in the water, with such 

 slowness, that one may easily lay 

 hold of it, and get it out of the 

 water. It is like a jelly, soft and 

 slippery, so that if you crush it 

 between your fingers you find it 

 fat and greasy like train oil. The 

 Greenland seas abound in it, 

 which allures and draws this 

 kind of whales thither in search of 

 it ; for as their swallow or throat 

 is very narrow (being but four 

 inches in diameter), and the 

 smaller whalebones reaching 

 down his throat, they cannot 

 swallow any hard or large piece 

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